“How do I make you love me?”
Vanessa hummed in the mirror that particular morning in March. The day was the 22th of March and cloudy. It was a day like any other day, nothing special to it like the 28th which would be her 32nd birthday. Too many twos she thought as she adjusted a strand of hair. I wonder where Anne will connive to take her for her birthday party. She hoped it was not going to be another singles bar where she would drink too much and still go home alone since she never trusted any man who was in the bar. Not like last year, she thought with a shudder.
The rains had lasted the night and mist covered much of the Bay area around her condo. Her world glistened as if freshly washed, but it was doubtful there would be any promise of sunshine. She pouted at her reflection making her expression wrinkle into something unpleasant, more lipstick then.
“How do I make you care?”
She whispered to her reflection then applied a fresh layer of Cherry Dior lip gloss, lips puckering up to meet the felt tip of the applicator. Straightening to admire her handy work she gazed at her beauty in the mirror. She shifted her hips back and forth, then her shoulders but to no avail. Then with a sigh of frustration she blew out a breath rolling her eyes at the impossibility of getting the dress to fit properly fitting. The breath fluttered her red bangs out of place. She tossed the lip gloss onto her dresser before grabbing her dress with both hands giving it a firm tug downward to the right. The stubborn thing popped back into place over her hips. She turned this way and that finally gave herself a nod of approval.
“Sexy but definitely professional, Ness.”
Vanessa decided to forego her normal breakfast grabbing a can of Slimfast and combining it with the freshly brewed coffee before taking time to make sure the coffee maker was off. She was not going to have another coffee fire, no sir!
“It’s not coffee- its chocolate mocha lighty.” She quipped to the empty room. Maybe it was time to get a cat.
On the way out she stopped inside the front door to get her stuff. She put down the travel mug so she could apply a fourth layer of lip-gloss. She checked her hair again, lips pursing in thought as she wondered if a ponytail would be better than the “wet look” that Vogue was raving about. Actually her hair wouldn’t completely cooperate so she had only achieved the “semi dry” look instead. She glanced down at her walking Sketchers. Grabbed her purse and keys and walked out the door. She was halfway down the walk before she remembered the travel mug. Great promise to begin your day, Ness; still she went back for it.
It is hard to find yourself facing 28 and still be single. Still she was better off than her secretary, Sue, who was almost 41 and still single. Sue said she didn’t care and loved the singles scene in the Bay area, but Vanessa was not sure that Sue really meant it. Life is never quite as set as it is in the movies. Vanessa had been too busy for romance and ironically too romantic to approach the casual relationships that her friends and brothers seemed to enjoy. When she would pause in her overly energetic routine, the irony would ring in her ears, especially when she was scoping out the rock hard abs or tanned shoulders of the construction workers across the street from where she worked at the Anders Ad Agency on the fourth floor.
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